The Australian government is starting construction of a new surface shipbuilding yard in Osborne, South Australia, and has unveiled the design of the shipyard.
The construction of the shipyard will be a $535 million project and is the latest in a series of significant infrastructure announcements supporting the delivery of a continuous naval shipbuilding program in Australia.
The government has also finalised the purchase of the initial tranche of state-owned land and facilities and has also received state planning consent for construction of the new shipbuilding infrastructure.
The infrastructure expansion and upgrades are a fundamental enabler of the construction of the Future Frigates and are key to delivering a continuous naval shipbuilding program which will support thousands of Australian jobs.
The government has also announced the appointment of the chair and board members of the newly formed Australian Naval Infrastructure Pty Ltd (ANI):
Lucio Di Bartolomeo was appointed as chair of ANI, and Peter Iancov, Jeremy Schultz, Janice van Reyk and Jim Whalley were appointed as directors, are former members of the ASC Pty Ltd board.
ANI is now undertaking a commercial process to select the shipyard builder, with a decision to be announced in the coming months.